"There are less than 500 soldiers at the late stage of the Qi Refining Realm, and this is the result of many years of accumulation of non-retired soldiers. If there are only 100,000 Yellow Sand Puppets, relying on the defensive array of Yellow Sand City, I am confident we can hold Yellow Sand City."

"I need you not only to defend Yellow Sand City but also to lead an attack on Black Sand City," Chu Tiange said.

"This..." Chen Pei'en wanted to say that in such a disadvantaged situation, sending troops to attack Black Sand City would be very unwise.

But he couldn't say that, so he could only reply, "I cannot guarantee capturing Black Sand City, but I can assure you I can lead the troops to the gates of Black Sand City."

He couldn't abandon Yellow Sand City just because of Chu Tiange's words and lead all his troops to attack Black Sand City.

Although Chu Tiange was a special envoy sent from above, his main mission was to guard Yellow Sand City, and at most, he would satisfy Chu Tiange's requirements within his capacity.

If Chu Tiange's demands conflicted with the defense of Yellow Sand City, he could ignore Chu Tiange, and even if he was investigated later, he would not be held accountable.

Chu Tiange, though young, understood the implication of his words. Under the current circumstances, Yellow Sand City could not send troops to attack Black Sand City.

Rumble~ The Yellow Sand Puppet army was approaching, and the tremors caused by their movement echoed throughout the land, audible from dozens of miles away.

Chu Tiange flew towards the Yellow Sand Puppet army, and seeing his actions, Chen Pei'en quickly followed, ready to protect him at any moment.

The Yellow Sand Puppets ignored the two flying overhead and continued forward.

Looking down at the vast number of Yellow Sand Puppets, Chu Tiange gathered spiritual power and struck with his fist. A golden light flashed, and a punch that spanned the heavens and earth descended, crashing into the Yellow Sand Puppet army.

Boom! The ground shook continuously, creating a gap in the Yellow Sand Puppet army, which was quickly filled by other Yellow Sand Puppets.

The shattered Yellow Sand Puppets attached themselves to other Yellow Sand Puppets, some becoming thicker and sturdier. Merely smashing the Yellow Sand Puppets didn't solve the issue.

That strike consumed one-tenth of Chu Tiange's spiritual power, shattering about fifty to sixty Yellow Sand Puppets, but unfortunately, it had little effect.

Chu Tiange's eyes focused as he reached out, and a wriggling mass of sand emerged from the Yellow Sand Puppet army. This was what had fallen out of a shattered Yellow Sand Puppet.

These wriggling sands were also what had attached to the other Yellow Sand Puppets.

It seemed that this was the core of the Yellow Sand Giants.

Chu Tiange clenched his hand, and the sand clump, restrained by spiritual power, rapidly shrank into a ball, resisting his grip.

A flash of golden light passed through his eyes, his golden blood veins surged, and as his right hand clenched, a golden light flashed through his spiritual power, obliterating the wriggling sand into the air.

"Sand core."

In ancient texts, Chu Tiange had read about this material. It was an artifact of the ancient Desert Kingdom, renowned for using this peculiar material to create Yellow Sand Puppets, the most famous being the Yellow Sand God Generals.

The power of the Yellow Sand God Generals was comparable to Martial Cultivators in the Core Formation Realm, meaning the Desert Kingdom had a way to mass-produce Core Formation realm Martial Cultivators.

Unfortunately, even with the ability to mass-produce Yellow Sand God Generals, the Desert Kingdom could not withstand the iron hoofs of the Da Zhou West Expedition, leading to its downfall.

"Sand King Hall, remnants of the Desert Kingdom," Chu Tiange thought.

Besides the Sand King Hall, he couldn't think of any other organization capable of acquiring the former state-level resources of the Desert Kingdom. All knowledge of the Sand Generals was supposedly destroyed after the Da Zhou's conquest.

Only a single vitally important piece of original documentation was kept in the palace library, which he, being of royal blood, had the privilege to study.

Da Zhou had also been gathering intelligence about the Sand King Hall, and though the Da Zhou Dynasty hadn't waged war against the Western Desert for a thousand years, they never ceased their infiltration of it.

Called here by his second sister, Chu Tiange had earlier gained some understanding of the Sand King Hall and had even done a crash course on the Desert Kingdom's history.

"Let's return. This matter involves Black Water City. Contact the other city-states and have them send representatives," Chu Tiange said, then flew back towards Yellow Sand City.

Chen Pei'en was stunned for a moment at his words, and only after seeing Chu Tiange fly away did he catch up. He hadn't expected the Yellow Sand Puppet army to be linked with Black Sand City.

Judging by Chu Tiange's confident demeanor, he surely knew something.

Boom~ Boom~ Boom~ The ground quaked as the defenders of Yellow Sand City spotted the approaching Yellow Sand Puppet army on the horizon, their spirits greatly shaken.

Having never faced a real war, they occasionally colluded with the Yellow Sand City constables, helping catch minor thieves for the authorities, but it was their first time witnessing so many enemies.

At the sight of the overwhelming onslaught of the Yellow Sand Giants, many felt their legs trembling with fear.

Lu Yu sat in meditation inside his room, healing his injuries. The broken bones had been set and healed, and his injuries were almost fully recovered, with his strength somewhat enhanced.

The ground trembled, and the table shook, causing the teapot on it to move ever closer to the edge.

Within moments the teapot reached the table's edge, tipped over, but hung suspended in mid-air, not a drop of tea spilled.

Many items in the room were displaced, but under Lu Yu's spiritual power, everything returned to its rightful place as he rose and headed for the door.

Such commotion nearly rivaled an earthquake. What was happening outside? Lu Yu thought to himself as he left the room.

Upon exiting, he saw the guard at his courtyard gate, whose anxious and curious demeanor indicated he knew nothing of the chaos either.

Approaching the guard, he asked, "Where is General Chen? I need to see him."

The guard, hearing Lu Yu's voice, realized he had emerged and quickly responded, "The General has left the garrison. Before departing, he instructed me to cater to your needs as best as I can."

Vrrr~ Lu Yu noticed large expanses of spiritual light on the city wall, as a massively complex array appeared in the sky above Yellow Sand City.

A feeling stirred within Lu Yu as he told the guard, "Take me to the city wall."

The guard looked at Lu Yu with some difficulty, deeply conflicted, for Chen Pei'en hadn't instructed him whether or not to allow Lu Yu to leave.

But given Chen Pei'en's wish for him to watch the gate, he probably expected him to keep Lu Yu within the courtyard.

Yet, the guard was also told to satisfy Lu Yu's requests as much as possible.

Seeing the conflict on his face, Lu Yu said, "I have urgent information for General Chen."

After hearing this, the guard made up his mind and said, "Alright, follow me!"

They headed towards the city wall.

"General, the person you brought back says they have urgent information for you," the Messenger said softly to Chen Pei'en.

Hearing this, Chen Pei'en glanced at Chu Tiange, who gestured for him to handle it himself, as he was presently waiting for delegates from other city-states to form a task force to strike directly at Black Sand City.

Receiving Chu Tiange's gesture, he followed the Messenger to where Lu Yu was.

Standing by the city wall, Lu Yu gazed at the infinite Yellow Sand Puppet army outside, recognizing the source of what had caused the small quake.

Watching the Yellow Sand Puppets below, he felt a sense of familiarity. With further contemplation, he realized the Yellow Sand Puppets resembled the Yellow Sand God Generals.

They appeared more crude and notably weaker, like low-quality counterfeits of the Yellow Sand God Generals.

Recognizing these Yellow Sand Puppets, Lu Yu felt 90% certain they were linked to the Sand King Hall, and possibly related to the figure he had seen underground.

"What urgent information do you have?" Chen Pei'en quickly inquired upon approaching.

Lu Yu turned to Chen Pei'en, looked back at the distant Yellow Sand Puppet army, and said, "These Yellow Sand Puppets might have been created by the Sand King Hall."

"Sand King Hall?" Chen Pei'en felt puzzled. What was the Sand King Hall? It was the first time he had heard that name.

Recalling that Chu Tiange seemed to have some insight, he said to Lu Yu, "I'll take you to see someone."

The two headed toward the city tower, and before reaching it, Lu Yu spotted the "short fellow" standing among the crowd. Chu Tiange sensed his gaze, looked over with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"Lu Yu!"

"Chu Tiange?"